Legislative Meeting - Regular Meeting

Okay, welcome everyone. Uh welcome to our May 5th, 2026 2:00 p.m. Commissioners Consent Agenda meeting. Let the record reflect that all five Commissioners are present. Um we have received written comment that is for item 7C on today's agenda. Um otherwise, I've received no other written comments. Um and so we will go ahead and get started. Um if everyone would stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, so now is the time for open public forum. I do not have anyone signed up, so I'm going to open it up for anyone that would like to testify at open public forum. For that's for any item that is not on today's agenda. Second call for anyone wishing to testify at open public forum. Seeing no one online. No one in the audience. Third and final call for anyone wishing to testify at our open public forum. Seeing no one, I will close the open public forum and I will look to my fellow Commissioner. Uh Madam Chair, I would like to read this next uh proclamation in the form of a motion. Uh this is a proclamation in the matter of proclaiming May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as National National Correctional Officers and Employees Week. Whereas, correctional employees in Spokane County form a core element of the public safety team in this community. Our correctional employees in

detention services provide supervision, treatment services, re-entry guidance, and emotional support for more than 32,000 individual cases in the course of a calendar year while promoting positive behavior, constructive a constructive attitudes and life skills within in the inmate population to reduce recidivism and facilitate successful reintegration into the community. And whereas in Spokane County, our correctional employees are trained law enforcement professionals who engage in dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations every day. And whereas members of the Spokane County community should recognize the increasingly complex, dangerous, and challenging responsibilities carried out by every correctional employee in detention services. Each correctional employee accepts enormous personal and professional responsibility. And whereas National Correctional Officer and Employees Week acknowledges the work of our correctional officers and employees who serve this honorable profession nobly and admirably. Now, therefore, we, the Board of County Commissioners of Spokane County, Washington, do hereby proclaim May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as National Correctional Officer and Employees Week. We encourage all citizens to join in recognizing the employees of detention services for their role in safeguarding the citizens of Spokane County by providing safe, secure, and humane incarceration and re-entry services to individuals within their custody. Dated the 5th of May, 2026. Signed, Board of County Commissioners. Second. Third.

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I have a and second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please Thank you, Madam Chair. I I know that we've got several members of our corrections department in the audience and I just wanted to personally say thank you to both you, your your fellow officers for all that you do. I know that uh you're not out on the street. You're taking care of those that have committed crimes or in the process of being adjudicated and it's not a safe job. Anybody that thinks it's a safe job doesn't understand the shoes that you walk in. So, thank you so much for what you do every day tirelessly and all the work that you do to keep our community safe. Thank you. Thank you. I just second, well, I'll have you come up in just a moment. I need to make sure that I get the vote. So, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Now, I would love to have you, Chief Hooper, come up and say a word. Thank you very much. Thank you for the continued support. So, I think this is maybe my fourth time here for this, but I said it before and I'll say it again. Had more support from this board than any other. I've been with the county for 28 years and you guys have shown heartfelt support to the comments from Commissioner from Commissioner French, Commissioner Kearns, and all of you. So, and the support of our award ceremony and continued support. So, I want to say thank you for that. So, introduce some of our team here. We brought some of them. So, as I you guys like to see, I like to bring the whole team if we can. So, Lieutenant Lewisworth, come on, stand up, Lou. Lieutenant Jason Robinson. Lieutenant Darren Layman,

Lieutenant Aaron Anderton, and next row, Sergeant Kim Korolsky, our mental health manager Christie Ray, one of our mental health professionals Nina Bartfield, I'm sorry. Administrative I mean our executive assistant Ivana Bukich and our administrative manager Johnny Eaton. I forgot her last name. Just some of our team, but thank them for the support as well. So, um So, again, I would like to thanks for the support for the proclamation designating the first week in May as National Corrections Officer and Employee Week. Um every year during the first week in May, we celebrate by bringing food, prizes for staff, thank them for their unforeseen or unseen and often unforgotten and selfless performance they perform every day. All the funds for the annual celebration are donated by staff in the form of monthly deductions from our employee appreciation fund. Um additionally, the sergeants uh corrections sergeants union, the corrections officers union, Can-Am Credit Union, and other community supporters also donate to support through donations for the fund. This year, we'll be having cookies, uh pizza, donuts, um as well as over $2,000 in gift cards for the staff. So, we think about one out of every three or four people get a gift card for something. So, um didn't just same thing. I just want to say thank you for all the support and all the nice words. So, Thank you. So, we need to have your photo taken with with your whole team. So, I don't know if um Sherice if we want to have all of you guys in front and we're behind. I don't know. It's a pretty big group. It's a pretty Yeah, we'll do we'll do that. Will you guys all come up here and we'll stand here. But, we just want to say again, thank you and we're sorry that when you had your awards that we weren't able to attend cuz we're all in DC. I got it.

Okay, that's going to take us to our next item, item 3B. And I'll look to my fellow commissioners. Madam Chair, I'd like to read this proclamation in the form of a motion in the matter of proclaiming May 11th through 15th, 2026 as Drug Court Week in Spokane County in recognition of the 30th anniversary of Superior Court's Felony Drug Court. Whereas therapeutic courts improve both public health and public safety using evidence-based practices that combine rigorous supervision and oversight to support individuals and families affected by substance use and other behavioral health conditions. And whereas the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services found that cost savings due to crime reductions created a return of $4 for every tax dollar invested in a Washington State Drug Court and analyses of mental health courts and family treatment courts in Washington state have shown benefits from reduced recidivism, and whereas therapeutic court participants and alumni in Spokane County create positive ripple effects in their communities, inspiring hope and giving back as productive employees, stable parents, dedicated mentors, and effective role models for others in recovery, and whereas therapeutic courts in Spokane County provide treatment, case management, peer support, judicial oversight, comprehensive resources, structure, and accountability that address the root causes of criminal behavior and support long-term recovery, and whereas Spokane County Superior Court is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of their felony drug court, which was the second in Washington state and the 11th in the nation, with more than 1,000 graduates who reclaimed their lives and became productive members of our community. Now, therefore, we, the Board of County Commissioners of Spokane County,

Washington, do hereby proclaim the week of May 11th to 15th, 2026 as 30th 30th anniversary of Drug Court Week in Spokane County. Dated this 5th of May, 2026, Board of County Commissioners of Spokane County, Washington. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I think we have Judge Zamblin here Yes, we do, sir.

to speak, and just want to thank her and everybody involved in the drug court. Uh as you can tell from the resolution, there's a lot of intensive work that goes into those cases, not just in the courtroom, but outside the courtroom to uh connect defendants in the system uh with resources to help them kind of get on uh solid ground in their life, and I think it's all about reducing recidivism, which means a healthier, safer community, fewer victims, uh and good outcomes all around. So, thank you so much to the program. Thank you. And before I have you speak, we're going to vote. Oh, sorry. So, I'll let you hang out there. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Yes. Um so, any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Motion passes unanimously. Now, we'd love to have you speak, Judge. Um I'm just going to be very quick. On behalf of the whole treatment team, I like how you acknowledge that it's a takes a village, and we have really dedicated professionals that help us um change people's lives and and keep our community safe. Um you're always welcome to come to um a drug court graduation. They're always on the last Thursday of the month at 3:00. Um we had one last week that was particularly moving. Um the gentleman talked about how when he was in prison, he thought about how if he had one wish, um what would it be? And he said, "I I didn't want fame or money or drugs. I wanted to figure out how to get sober." And drug court helped him get sober. And the other thing he said was, "I was nervous about inviting my mom because the only time she'd ever been in court was when um she cried because I was getting sent off to prison." And she did cry, but they were happy tears because he's completely changed his life. So, thank you very much for your support. Spokane County has been an early adopter. Um you know, being 11th in the

entire United States is phenomenal, second in the the state of Washington. So, we're very, very grateful for um the board's ongoing support. Thank you. Great. So, we will uh hand you over the proclamation and take a photo with you.

Okay, so that's going to take us to the next items on our agenda and I'll look to my fellow commissioners. Madam Chair, move to approve items 4, 5, and 6 including all sub-items on today's agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second for items 4, 5, and 6 on today's agenda and all sub-items. Any further discussion? Yes. Commissioner French. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I want to speak specifically to item 6K, uh which is the uh uh approval of the contract between uh Spokane County and the Department of Commerce uh on the uh grant for the um POET system installations and filtration systems for the West Plains and fighting PFAS. And want to uh specifically uh uh thank you to uh uh Heather Arnold for uh all of the hard work you did in monitoring and making sure that we could get across the finish line. This grant is unique and there are a lot of things in this grant that have never been done before in the state of Washington. And so, uh it's through her leadership and through the help of our civil attorneys uh that we were able to get across the finish line. So, uh there are a lot of residents on the West Plains that are going to be benefited from this action. So, thank you very much for all that you did to get us across the finish line. And thank you to Ben Batterbro and all of the work that he's doing to try and get these things installed. So, just wanted to acknowledge all the great work that our team is doing. Thank you. Seeing no other comments, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. I. Motion passes unanimously. That will then take us to our public

hearing items, and we have four public hearing items today. So, we will start with 7A, which is to consider the vacation of Belmont Road extension and a portion of Darnell Road, County Engineers file number 13S and 1633 for the Spokane County Public Works Department. And Matt Zirkle, County Road Engineer, will give us a presentation. Good afternoon. Thank you, Commissioner. Uh this will be the first of four vacations in front of the board today for consideration. Is going to help me out? Perfect. Thank you. All right, next slide. Thanks. Okay, so the first vacation is for Belmont Road extension and Darnell Road. You can see on the vicinity map on the left, it's south of Spokane Valley, just off Highway 27. And on the right side, you can see the very right edge is the town of Mica. And there's SR 27 along the right side also. So, the roads in red are the two roads proposed for vacation right-of-ways, rather, and Darnell Road and the Belmont extension have never been built nor certified. They actually run through an active pit property, and that's the petitioner. They're requesting the vacation. The properties to the west all have alternate access, and it was recommendation of our team to go ahead and vacate these right-of-ways, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions for Matt? Seeing none, thank you very much. Okay, this is a public hearing item, so I will open up the public testimony for item 7A. I do not have anyone signed up for 7A. Is there anyone else in the audience or online? Seeing no one, second call.

Continuing to see no one, third and final call for item 7A. Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and look to my fellow commissioners. Madam Chair, I move that we approve item 7A as presented by staff. Second. A motion and second for item 7A, any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Motion passes unanimously. That will take us to item 7B. Mr. Zarcone. Uh thank you again, Madam Chair. The second vacation in front of the board is Lakeview Boulevard. Next slide, please. And this uh vacation is over in West Spokane. You can see on the vicinity map, and also on the right side, you can see Clear Lake along the left side of the aerial. The right-of-way being proposed for vacation is outlined in red, and this is the third vacation in front of the board. The two um right-of-ways north of it were also vacated. They also dedicated right of way as an alternate, but we don't need that with this one. There's a topographic challenge that would preclude building a road ever to the south. There's a very deep rocky draw. So, we're just proposing to vacate this. It's all a family that owns the parcels to the north and these parcels on each side of the right of way and they're also we've talked to emergency services. They're good with the access available to them. You can see clearly Cook Road is directly adjacent and parallel to it. And we have had no feedback um, opposing it. We don't see any current or future need for the right of way and we would support the vacation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Are there any questions for Mr. Zaracor? Thank you. This is a public hearing item, so I will

open it for public testimony. Again, I don't have anyone signed up um, right now for 7B. Is there anyone online or in the audience? Seeing no one Yes, sir. If you'd like to come down and testify, you you are welcome to. We will just have you fill out a blue slip once you're done. So, if you just state your name um, for the record. I'm Eric Sletten, so I'm the petitioner. So, I own the parcel to the left there. Okay. So, just I don't have nothing really to add. I just wanted to kind of I don't know. I enjoyed coming to the meeting today, so uh, thank you for that, but um, our goal is to to build out on our parcel. It's kind of pretty limited just it's very rocky out there obviously and so by expanding this I our hope is that it will allow us to build and eventually retire out there, which is kind of our our goal and our plan, so this was kind of part of it that would allow us to look towards that future and actually start to you know, move in that forward, so that was it, but just wanted to say thank you and for considering it, so. Thank you. Glad you came down to testify. Okay. Third and final call for any anyone wishing to testify on item number 7B. Seeing no one else um in the audience or no one online, I am going to close the public testimony and look to my public commissioners. Madam Chair, move to approve item public hearing item number 7B as presented by staff. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. That will then take us to item number 7C. Mr. Zaracorgen. Thank you again, Madam Chair. The third vacation in front of the board is Sylvan Addition to Meadow Lake. It involves multiple right-of-ways. Next slide, please. Perfect. Thank you. So, you can see this one again is out southwest of town, and you can see on the vicinity map and on the right side on the aerial, you can see I-90 cutting diagonally through it with Granite Lake in the upper right. And you can just see the edge of Silver Lake on the western portion of the aerial. And this is an old plat, and it dedicated a whole bunch of right-of-ways. You can see all the lines in red there are the proposed vacations. Uh the petitioning party is the hatched yellow area that you can see. They own a lot of the property here. We did receive written comment uh from the property owners to the south, and I took the time and gave them a call and visited with them. Um Judy McMillan is the personal representative for the property to the south, and was concerned about access, rightly so. Um there are some challenges. You You see on this map here, I-90 is not real access. So, I think we all know that. The odds of getting a connection to I-90 is not very viable for a general property owner. And you can see that right-of-way where it jogs over in the north, runs right through a lake, pretty good-sized pond. So, not actually viable access. Those are, for the most part, 15 ft wide, also not very viable in terms of road construction. Um had a good conversation with her. She owns property that is contiguous clear over to almost Clear Lake and ties into all the right-of-ways over to Clear Lake and then again to the north on the west side of um Silver

Lake. So, has a couple alternate routes out and we also, when we allow development within this crosshatched area, presumably develops after we vacate the right-of-ways if the board elects to do so, we would be encouraging them to probably have one public road connection to the south if that works with the plans that they have, just to allow better future access for the property to the south. It has a lot of wetlands. Her intentions are conservation easement um long-term and they're cattle ranching it currently. So, don't have a development plans, but we always try and hedge our bets and would like to include right-of-way if that works with the plan for the petitioner. Um not requiring it as part of the vacation cuz I don't know what their plan is. If they keep it large lot, it may not be necessary. But that's something that we'll talk about as they're developing. And again, happy to answer any questions. Any further questions for Mr. Zarcone? Seeing none, this is a public hearing item and I do have someone who's uh signed up to testify. So, I will open up the public hearing and ask Steven McCray the second to come up. Good afternoon. Thank you. Um my name is Steven McCray the second. I live at 827 Oakland in Cheney, Washington. The property that he was just talking about is owned half by mother and half by my aunt Judy. Um we have had increasing pressure on our farm over the last 60 years. As you can see, I-90 cuts straight through our family farm right here, and that went in 1958. We also have the development that went in on the east side of Silver Lake that cut off one of our other paths of access to the lake, and this is just one more pressure that's being put upon us. As it sits currently, the way that we have access to our farm is we have to drive through a private road that is owned by the people that have that development on the east side of Silver Lake, and then we have to drive over the main pipeline that feeds the Spokane

area in order to get into our ranch. And so we have very serious concerns about the vacating of this road without any kind of promise of uh future access to our farm on that. Um we have almost 640 acres on that side of the freeway, and we were severely impacted by the Gray Road fire, from which we are still recovering. Between the south side of uh the east side of the freeway and the west side of the freeway, we had 840 acres of timber burned in the Gray Road fire. And so this is just one more pressure that we are seriously concerned about our ability to continue to maintain agricultural operations on our family farm. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to testify on item number 7c? Yes, if you just want to state your name um for the record, and then no. Um I should have said there is a 3-minute timer, so. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioners. Elizabeth Tellison with Winston & Cashatt representing the applicant for these vacations. Um as you can see from the images that have been prepared, the plat really coincidentally falls on that center um break in your screen. So there is no platted right of way to the properties to the south that go beyond my client's ownership. The platted right of ways are topographically and critically aerially bound. We've had wetland analysis done. As Mr. Zieroth mentioned, the rights of way that were platted are grossly below anything that the county would ever develop. We do ask that you approve these vacations to allow roads to be placed where they are feasible for the topography of the site.

And to Mr. McCray's and the objections, we haven't received, at least to my knowledge, any direct communication from them requesting private access for any purpose, let alone agricultural purposes. So, I would certainly encourage them to reach out to my client or to me for that. But, in this instance, there isn't any connectivity to the south for any of these platted roads beyond I-90. So, I don't um contemplate any expectation on the behalf of my client or any useful right of way that could be dedicated to the public for public access. So, we would ask that you approve the resolution as presented in your packet. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to testify on item number 7c? See no one online and no one else in the audience. Last call for anyone wishing to testify on 7c. Okay, see no one online and no one else in the audience. I'm going to close the public testimony. Um I Go ahead, Commissioner You go first.

So, Mr. Zieroth So, you indicated in your testimony that um when a development would be proposed that it would be your intention to uh encourage uh uh connection with some kind of right-of-way to the property to the south. Did I hear that right? Yeah, it will depend a lot on how they develop, Commissioner. Currently, Silver Lake Road is the obvious one extending from north to south into the proposed developed area. If they intend to utilize existing parcels, historically, we have not required a lot of dedication or road construction beyond what the road standards would require. That being said, you know, it's a conversation. If they want to reconfigure lots or do clustering or there's a bunch of avenues they could pursue. Um platting ones, we would have a better nexus, a better opportunity to request right-of-ways and public roads be extended into the project. And it's it's really a conversation. It depends a lot on how they intend to develop the property and we don't know that yet. So, to um address the issue raised by the adjacent property owner, if we were to condition this vacation upon future consideration of access uh uh across this property, would that be uh too far out of line or would that be a way to kind of memorialize the intent um in case you [snorts] or I aren't here when they actually develop the property? Yeah, we have done that historically in the past in different circumstances

where we knew there was a urban type plat coming forward and we wanted to make sure there was public right-of-way and public extension through a property. I would tell you from the conversation that we've had today, knowing they have alternate access, the property owners to the south to a couple different points on existing public right-of-ways and roadways, I don't think this rises to that merit and it gets difficult to fit, you know, fulfill the condition without getting all the way through the process. You know, it becomes cart and horse. How do you How do you fulfill the requirement to extend a public right-of-way when we haven't vacated the current right-of-ways? It When and how you meet that condition becomes a challenge. It would not be my recommendation to place a condition like that on this project.

So, it's your opinion that they do have the properties to the south do have access to other uh existing right-of-ways that would uh meet their needs in terms of access. Yeah, currently, as the gentleman pointed out, they access to the north on the west side of Silver Lake and also there's a road out to Clear Lake Road. So, they have and they're both in public right-of-ways. So, they have public road right-of-way access at two locations. And And frankly, to everybody's point, it is packed with wetlands. It is if you over did a critical lay critical areas overlay on that area, it's very very encumbered. You know, to what degree it could ever do be developed is questionable. You know, not that it couldn't, but the density would be pretty light and would they need a full you know, public road connection? I don't know that we would want that depending on what the development to the south looked like. So, I I wouldn't want to condition it to something that perhaps the county wouldn't even want to see. Okay, thank you. Yeah. So, I guess based on the testimony um and the written comment that we received as well, um I I have a few more questions. So, I don't know if the board would be willing to delay one week the decision. I've closed the public testimony. We just delay one week so I can get my questions answered and then we um cuz I'm just want to make sure that I understand the where the property owners are in the vacation and how how they do have access. So, Yeah, absolutely. before I make a decision. Yeah. So, We're happy to do that. Okay. Um do we need a motion to delay the decision one week? So, I I will make the motion. All right, I'm just going to double-check to make sure we do. Yeah, a motion and a second and a vote would be the cleanest way. Madam Chair, I would move that we defer uh final action on item seven uh

C uh for one week. Second. Okay, I have a motion second to defer final action uh of 7C for one week to to May 12th. Any further discussion? Oh. And and to clarify the motion, that was for decision only. For for decision only, yes. Public testimony has closed. So, for decision only. Um all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously and we will defer this for decision only till next week. Thank you. Um with that then, so and I just want to say thank you all for coming and testifying so we could make you know, we'll we'll get more questions answered and make our decision. Um that's going to then take us to 7D, which is to consider the vacation of a portion of Trevor Road in the plat of Ballard's First Addition, County Road Engineers file number 2462 for the Spokane County Public Works Department. Um Mr. Zarakor. All right, thank you one last time, Madam Chair. Fourth and final vacation hearing for today and you can You can on the overhead we are up in North Spokane County. And this is actually the Northwest Christian School campus. You can see they're petitioning. It's the blue cross-hatched area is the property they own. They own on both sides of the request to vacate. And the only parcel that is losing potential access is the parcel you can see not blue cross-hatched to the east. And that property has access out to Handy Road, which goes both directions. So, even say where this to come into the urban area, it's 660 ft wide east-west. So, it it's going to require multiple access points out to the arterial even at urban density. So, um the removing the access from this right-of-way does not limit their ability to develop is where I'm going

with that. Uh have not had anybody reach out regarding this vacation. And we would recommend approving the vacation. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Zarakar? Okay, it is a public hearing item, so I am going to open up the public hearing. And I do have two people that have um signed up to testify. So, we'll start with Dwight Holm. Thank you, commissioners. This is I'm Dwight Holm. I'm representing Northwest Christian Schools. They are the owners of the property on both sides of that requested vacation. And as you can see from the aerial photo, um the intent is to enable the school to use majority of the easterly portion of that southerly parcel for more of the playground space without interruption of the unimproved road. And that's all it is. The house will remain. It's a rental uh for income to the school. And as you can see it is oriented to the north-south street and has no dependence upon that other road. So, we appreciate your action to approve that. Thank you. Thank you. I also have Robert. Or Roger, I'm sorry. And And your last name I'm going to have you just state your name for the record. Yes. So, Roger Gerstenberger, head of schools at Northwest Christian. I really have no further comments unless to answer any particular questions about the usage of this, but we greatly appreciate the county's consideration of this vacation. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to testify or that is

online? Seeing no one, third and final call for anyone wishing to testify on item number 7D. Seeing no one else online and no one else in the audience, I will close the public testimony and look to my fellow commissioners. Madam Chair, move to approve public hearing item number 7D as presented by staff. Second. I motion is second. Um is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please signify by saying I. I. I. I. Motion passes unanimously. So, that then takes us to the end of our agenda for today. Is there any miscellaneous matters? Or any other items? No miscellaneous matters, uh Commissioner. We do have one uh closed session for labor negotiations. Okay. And one executive session item today, pending and potential litigation, 20 minutes, no action. Matt Folsom, Scott Simmons, Jeff McMorris, Devin Curda, Megan Clark, Jasper Coulter, Matt Zaracour, and Jake Saxon. Again, 20 minutes, pending and potential litigation, no action. And Commissioner, because we have um some members outside of uh county staff, I would propose to do the closed session after we do the executive session first. Okay. We will do the executive session for the reasons stated with the people in attendance. For how long did you say? 40 minutes? 20 20 minutes for the executive session. Um no action will be taken, so at the end of that executive session, we will then close the executive session and go into our our closed session for 20 minutes, and at the end of that 20 minutes um there'll be no dis- decisions either, and so we will adjourn for the day after that. So, thank you all very much for being here. Um appreciate everyone testifying, and we will see everybody back next week.